


Long Way Home

by blacktithe



Series: Sam and Alex [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-03-22 09:54:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13761642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktithe/pseuds/blacktithe
Summary: Alex is back, and nothing is the way it used to be. Bobby is gone. Sam has move on to someone else, and she is not the same person she once was. Will Sam and Alex be able to find their way back to one another? Or is the distance between them just too great? Rated M for some sexual content





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story exists because you, the readers, asked for it. I started this story years ago but abandoned it after lack of feedback and my work being stolen made me lose my desire to write it. You have been asking for more Sam and Alex, so here it is. I'll start with what I already had and will continue to write as long as I receive feedback. So if you want to see their story continue, you have to comment.
> 
> I do not own Supernatural or any of the characters found there in. Alex and the Mayfair mythology are my own.

The feeling of the bone going through Dick's neck was far more satisfying than he ever thought it would be. Even if it didn't work, it sure as hell felt good.

Elation soon turned to confusion and fear as waives of some mysterious energy began emitting from Dick's body. Dean had heard his brother and Kevin enter the room, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from what was happening in front of him. He watched as Dick's face twisted into what could only be described as a smile before he suddenly exploded.

Sam did his best to shield Kevin from the black ooze with his body. Once it was over, he turned back to check on his brother only to find that both Dean and Cas were gone. His eyes began to scan the room in panic.

"Dean!"

* * *

It took a moment for the world to come into focus. The woods Dean found himself in the middle of were grey and dull. He could hear a rustling sound and what he could only guess were the growls of some vicious animal. He rose to his feet and tried to figure out where he was. Cas was nowhere in sight.

The sounds kept getting closer and closer as he turned in circles trying to figure out where it was coming from, but it was no use. It was coming from all sides. An exit was what he needed. Knowing which way to go was almost impossible without knowing where the attack was coming from. So he decided to fight. He reached for his gun and found it was missing. He was completely unarmed.

Three ravenous creatures suddenly sprang forth from the tree line and began to converge on him.  _This is it,_  he thought.  _The end of the line._  One of the creatures knocked him to the ground and raised a massive claw, preparing to strike. Dean readied himself for the death blow, but it never came. Instead he heard the creature nearest to him give a howl of pain.

When he looked to the creature now lying dead at his feet, he saw that an arrow was protruding from its chest. There was a whistling noise and another creature fell. Suddenly, someone jumped from the trees and landed directly in front of him.

They dropped their bow and drew what looked like a machete from a sheath at their side and began slicing threw the creatures one by one. Each fell as quickly as the next. Dean watched in awe. It took him a moment to realize that his savior was a woman.

Her hair auburn was tie back into a loose French braid that flied around her as she sliced and diced the monsters attacking her. Before long, the last monster fell. She had her back to him, but he could see her shoulders rising and falling with her rapid breaths.

Slowly, she turned to face him. His eyes grew wide when he saw her face. He stared into all too familiar blue-grey eyes he had long since given up on seeing again. There, standing before him covered in blood was someone he thought he would never see again.

"Alex?"

She gave him a slow half smile.

"Hey Dean," she said. "Welcome to Purgatory."


	2. Chapter 1

"Alex?"

She gave him a slow half smile.

"Hey Dean," she said as she put her blade away. "Welcome to Purgatory."

He stared at her for what felt like an eternity, completely dumbfounded. The woman standing before him, covered in blood, was the same one he had seen follow his brother into the pit years before. So great was his bewilderment that it took him a moment to realize what she had said.

"Wait, did you just say Purgatory?"

Alex placed her blade back in it's sheath and picked up her bow. "Yeah" was her only response.

Dean stood and looked around in trepidation. He could hear more of the hideous creatures approaching.

"Come on," Alex said as she scanned the trees. "We can't stay here." She turned and started marching in the opposite direction. She was already a yard into the trees before she realized Dean wasn't following her. She turned and looked back at him.

Dean was still rooted to the spot. Everything was happening so fast that he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around it all.

"You can stay here if you want," she said, "but you'll be dead in an hour." She started moving back towards him, stopping a few feet in front of him. "Look, Dean, not to get all Terminator on you, but come with me if you want to live."

They walked in silence for what felt like hours. Dean kept alternating between studying the woman in front of him and scanning the trees for things that go bump in the night. Alex never wavered. She moved ahead with a singular determination. Each step took them closer to a destination that only she knew.

Soon they came to the mouth of a cave. Alex strode in confidently without pause, Dean following close behind.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Somewhere to rest for the night." Dean looked back at the mouth of the cave to see that it was in fact still daylight. When he commented on it she responded, "It won't be for much longer. If we're going to get far enough back into the cave to light a fire without drawing attention we need to do it now. Oh I almost forgot." She turned and looked at Dean. "Make sure you only step where I do. I've got traps set all over this place."

Dean started taking extra care to step in the small footprints Alex made. He was so engrossed in watching his feet that he didn't notice she had stopped until he ran into her. There was hardly any light left in the cave at this point, but Dean could still see the annoyance in her eyes.

"You didn't have to follow quite that closely," she said.

"Yeah well… just wanted to be sure." Alex rolled her eyes at him. Dean noticed that they seemed to be in the very back of the cave. "This it?"

Alex crouched and pointed to a small opening in the rock that was just big enough for them to crawl through. "Not claustrophobic are ya, Dean?" He watched her take off her weapons and place them in front of her as she began crawling into the dark hole.

The dark crawl space wasn't terribly long, but when Dean emerged on the other side everything was pitch black. He could hear what sounded like rocks hitting one another as small sparks appeared. Soon a fire roared to life in the center of a cavern.

It was obvious that this space had been lived in for a while. Dean could clearly make out what appeared to be a few beds along the walls. Alex knelt in the center of the cave tending to the fire. As she stood, Dean could see her putting away the flint she had used to start the fire.

"Welcome to my humble abode," she said, spreading her arms as if showcasing her surroundings.

"You live here?"

Alex shrugged. "I'm not sure I'd call it living. More like where I go at the end of the day when I'm too tired to fight anymore." She started moving around the space, putting away her weapons and such. It didn't take her long to realize that Dean was still just standing in the entry way. "You gunna sit down or what? You're gunna give me a complex."

Dean moved farther into the room. When he was near the fire, Alex enveloped him in the tightest bear hug he had ever received. He was only caught off guard for a moment before he returned her embrace. "Man it's good to see you, Alex."

"Yeah. Wish I could say the same." Dean pulled back from her in confusion. "So how'd it happen?"

"How'd what happen?"

"How'd you die?" She stepped back and took a seat on one of the logs placed near the fire.

"What?!"

"I'm sure it was a dozy. Would have to be for you to want to stick around and haunt someone. Who was it? Were you haunting Sam? Did he live a good life after you died?"

"Whoa. Whoa. What are you talking about?"

"You were a ghost right?" Dean's brows drew together as he sat down opposite of her. "Who finally put you to rest?"

Dean's mind was spinning. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, that's why you're here. Purgatory is for monsters, Dean. The only humans I've ever seen here were ghosts that got the salt and burn treatment. I'd always hoped that I'd never see you or Sam here unless you were breaking me out. From the look on your face when I said Purgatory, I'm going to guess that isn't it, so since you're here my guess is a hunt went south and you stuck around to keep an eye on Sammy. Sound about right?"

He shook his head from side to side as he let her words sink in. She thought he was dead. "I, uh, I'm not dead."

"You're not?"

"No. I was just standing a little too close to Dick when he blew."

"Who's Dick?"

Dean told her the story of the leviathan, how Cas had taken all of the souls from Purgatory into himself and somehow took those monsters in as well. A thought came to him, "Wait, if Cas took all the souls from Purgatory, what are you doing here?"

Alex looked confused. "You mean Sam never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"What happened to us?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "No. Hell, he didn't even remember his time in the pit."

Alex shook her head and gave a small huff. "That explains a lot." She took Dean's expression as a sign to continue. "We didn't go to Hell, Dean. We went to Heaven."

The hunter was astonished. How could Sam not remember that? When they met Joshua he told them that they had been there before and didn't remember sure, but if they were not meant to remember Alex should have no recollection of it either. Her voice cut through his revelry.

"It was wonderful." Alex had a far off look on her face as she took a seat and began to described the little piece of paradise she had shared with Sam. The softness in her voice displayed the fondness with which she viewed those times. "Ash came and visited us a time or two. I even got to see Pam again" Dean smiled. "He kept talking about what it was going to be like when you joined us. Yeah," she nodded, "they told me about your little field trip to the garden."

Dean shook his head, still trying to understand what she was saying. "Then what happened? How did Sam end up in Hell and you get stuck here?"

* * *

_Alex lay in Sam's arms as they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking. Time seemed to stand still here. There were no worries. No pain. Dean was safe. Cas had promised them that. The visit from Ash earlier in the day was not entirely unexpected. Sam had told her about running into him in Heaven when he had visited with Dean while she was under Lucifer's power._

_Was it still the same day? Time didn't really have a meaning to them anymore. In truth, Alex wasn't even certain that there was a difference between night and day anymore. There was just…the moment. And at that very moment, Alex was very much enjoying the thought of helping Sam wash that slight sheen of sweat off._

" _We should probably get cleaned up," she said._

_Sam merely grunted, his eyes remaining closed. The arm that was not holding her to his side was thrown above his head. Alex's weight on his chest was a comfort he once feared he would never feel again. Now he had her for all eternity._

_They would have been content to spend that eternity doing exactly the same. Until one day when an unexpected visitor came calling._

_They were resting on the couch, watching on of Alex's favorite Katherine Hepburn films when an angel they had never met suddenly appeared before them._

" _Dean is in danger," he said._

_The couple quickly rose to their feet._

" _What do you mean?" asked Sam._

_Alex chimed in, "Castiel promised us that a legion of angels would protect him. Dean is fine."_

" _Castiel is in no position to make that promise," he said. "The angels are at war. All those who were protecting your brother have been recalled to the battlefield."_

_Sam was confused. "Why are you telling us this?"_

" _The angels that were guarding your brother are loyal to Raphael. He has agreed to return them to their posts on one condition."_

_Sam and Alex's emotions were balancing on a knife's edge. Their perfect paradise had been shattered in a single moment. While they had been basking in each other's company, Dean had been left as a lamb to the slaughter. He was an incredible hunter. Maybe even the best the world had ever seen, but he was only half as good without his brother by his side. The Winchester's had accumulated a lot of enemies over the years. They may not know how long they had been away, but they were sure that it was long enough for the whole of the supernatural world to hear the news. That meant they would all be gunning for Dean and anyone close to him would be collateral damage._

" _What's the condition?" Alex asked._

_The angel leveled his gaze solely on her. "Castiel should never have brought you here. You are the Mayfair. You have no place in Paradise. By the nature of your very birth you should be rotting in Hell as we speak." His words cut like the cold hard steel on a highly sharpened blade, fast and clean. He turned his attention to Sam. "You gave Lucifer permission to claim his vessel. It is unnatural for you to escape the fire down below while he burns for all eternity. All Raphael asks is that you accept the true nature of your eternal resting place and return to your rightful home."_

_Sam could feel Alex trembling beside him and pulled her more tightly into the circle of his arms. It was a fate they had both feared, but had once been willing to accept to save those they loved. Now they were faced with that choice again. By agreeing to the archangel's terms, they would save one of their own but condemn themselves to eternal suffering._

' _Dean would do it for me,' thought Sam. 'He has done it.'_

" _Okay," he said. "I'll go, -"Alex looked up at him in shock. "- but Alex stays here."_

" _No, Sam," she said. "You're not going anywhere without me. If you go, so do I."_

_They studied each other's faces for a moment as the contemplated all they had learned. Silence was the only sound to be heard as they looked into each other's eyes. The look in one mirrored the other. There was a finality there that neither could argue with. A decision had been made, and they were in total agreement. No discussion was required._

* * *

Dean was stunned. "Wait a minute. You two gave up Heaven because some asshole angel told you it would keep me safe?"

"Pretty much," she said as she took a drink of water.

"What the hell, Alex!?" Dean exclaimed. He leaned forward on his knees and continued. "You were in Heaven. Everything was perfect. Why would you give that all up?"

Alex looked directly into his eyes as she spoke, her voice calm and steady. "Because it was you, Dean!" He moved away slightly at her outburst. "You, Sam, and I are a team. No, we're family. There is nothing we wouldn't do for each other. If things were reversed, can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't do the exact same thing to keep one of us safe?"

He looked away. What she said was true. Dean had willingly gone to Hell for Sam once. Knowing everything he did now about what would be waiting for him upon arrival, he would gladly do it again. Memories of his time there began to race through his mind, coupled with what Death had told him about the state of Sam's soul when it had been recovered.

Sam had barely kept it together. Dean was there to ground him. Sam and Alex had done much the same for him. He was grateful for that. A thought crossed his mind, and he looked to the woman sitting across from him. She was back to staring into the fire. Watching her, Dean could see subtle changes in her. The mirth that used to dance in her eyes was gone. Instead of dancing with laughter, they were as hard and cold as stainless steel.

Clearing his throat he asked, "So what happened?" She shifted her eyes to his face. "How did Sam end up top side, and you get stuck down here?" She looked back into the flames and began telling her story again.

* * *

_The smell of her own flesh roasting filled her nostrils as another piece of meat was slice from her bones. A cry of pain stuck in her throat. Her ability to scream in pain had left her long ago, her vocal cords bled from the abuse and caused her to taste blood when she tried. She could hear Sam's screams serve as evidence of his own anguish._

_She had lost track of how long it had been. The years had melted into a constant stream of blood and pain. One of the few consolations she had in her turmoil was that Michael and Lucifer were getting much the same treatment that she and Sam were. Their screams of agony joined in chorus with their own._

_Each day passed much like the last, until one day the walls ripped open in a burst of light and an angel appeared in Hell. He began fighting back the demons that tortured them as he made his way towards Sam. He cut the hunters binds, setting him free._

_Sam fell to his feet, to weak to stand on his own. The angel pulled him up by the arm, healing him as he went. Before he could flee with Sam in tow, another group of demons rushed in and began attacking him._

_With the angel distracted, Sam was able to take up one of the bloody knifes used to torture his beloved and set her free. He cut her binds and pulled her into his arms._

" _Come on," he said. "Alex, come on. I'm getting you out of here."_

_He started pulling her towards the fighting angel of their salvation. Upon seeing her in Sam's arm's, the angel became very upset._

" _No! I was only sent for you!" he yelled to Sam._

" _I'm not leaving without her!"_

" _I'm sorry."_

_The angel actually looked apologetic as he grabbed Sam roughly by the arm, causing him to lose his grip on Alex as he began pulling him towards the exit._

" _No!" he yelled. "Alex!"_

_She reached her hand towards him. He grabbed her hand with all of the strength he could muster._

" _No wait! We have to take her with us!"_

_The angel kept insisting that he was only sent for Sam, but he continued to fight to get free and reclaim her hand. Finally, he manadge to latch on and began dragging her after him. They were nearly home free until one of the injured demons grabbed Alex's ankle and began to pull her back to the Pit. His grip on her was so strong that her hold on Sam began to lessen._

" _Sam!" she called._

" _Alex!"_

_He reached for her with both hands as she began slipping from his grasp. As her hand slid through his fingers, he could feel his soul going with her. Just as she was about to lose her hold on Sam completely, she summoned all of her strength to kick the demon off of her leg. The demon let go with a howl of pain, but it was too late._

" _No!" Sam bellowed as his soul reached out and attached himself to her. Without something solid to hold on to, she lost her balance and fell forward onto her face._

" _Sam!" she cried as she pulled herself up onto all fours and reached for him, but he was already too far away. All she could reach was the shadow of him, a shadow that as she fell to the ground came with her. Alex watched in horror as the last piece of Sam was dragged away from her. She looked at the two pieces of him. A pale shadow came to rest at her side while his body moved farther and farther away. The look in his eyes as he did became hard. They no longer looked at her with the love they had once held._

_The remaining demons began to scramble towards the shadowy figure of Sam next to her. She looked at it. The eye she saw there held the look she knew so well. "Go," it told her. "Hurry!" It turned and tried to fight of the horde of demons bearing down on them._

_Alex drew herself up and ran towards the remaining light the angel left in its wake. She could no longer see Sam or the angel. The gap threw which it took Sam was rapidly closing. In a last desperate attempt, she leapt forward towards the closing gap and just managed to make it through._

_She landed hard on cold ground in the middle of a forest. She could hear creatures closing in on her from every side. Sam and the angel where nowhere in sight._

* * *

"I've been here ever since." Alex hung her head slightly as she finished. She kept expecting Dean to say something, but there was only silence. Eventually the silence stretched on to the point of discomfort. Alex looked up at Dean who was sitting there dumbfounded.

He was looking at her with what she could only describe as pity. She didn't look away. She met his gaze dead on and waited for him to say something.

"Wow! Alex I… I uh…," he struggled to find the words to express what he was feeling at that moment. What do you say to the person who left Heaven for Hell to save you and then got stuck in Purgatory because an angel only wanted your brother? There is nothing you can say to make up for that, but Dean wanted to try. "Alex, I'm so –"

She cut him off. "Don't you dare tell me your sorry, Dean." There was something akin to venom in her voice that caused Dean to raise his eyebrows in astonishment. She hardly ever spoke to him like that. "I'm not. I know you and Sam looked for me. That's all that matters."

Dean just nodded. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that Sam had come back not caring where she was, or that they were so busy dealing with the leviathans that they had actually spent very little time looking for her after the initial leads ran dry. He simply nodded his understanding and left things as they were.

"Get some rest, Dean. We have a busy day tomorrow."

"What are we doing tomorrow?"

Alex stopped in her process of settling into her resting place and said, "Tomorrow we start your training."

"Training? Sweetheart, I've been hunting my whole life. I don't think there is anything you can teach me."

"Oh really? Than tell me, Dean. What are the three most likely monsters you're going to run into in Purgatory and how do you get rid of them? Where else can you take shelter when darkness comes?" Dean didn't answer. "I thought so. Now get some rest. We've got an early start tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments and kudos. This story existentially because purely by the reader's request.


	3. Chapter 2

_The bed was the most comfortable thing Dean had ever felt, and the beautiful blonde beside him made it very difficult for him to get out of it. What a crazy dream, he thought._ Of all the places… _then something suddenly dawned on him._ Purgatory _! Purgatory was the only possibility they hadn't considered. He had to tell Sam._

_Dean moved as carefully as he could to avoid waking his bedfellow. He dressed as quickly and quietly as possible. His hand was on the door when he heard her call his name in an all too familiar voice. Turning, he saw that the blonde had been replaced with his long lost friend._

_"Dean," she said as the horror he felt intensified. "Dean, get up. Dean!"_

* * *

He jolted upright and quickly looked around for his painfully absent gun. His eyes finally fell on Alex as she loomed over him. "Time to get up." She tossed him something he guessed was supposed to be breakfast. "It's time to get moving. We've got a lot to do today."

She gathered up her weapons and started crawling through the opening, Dean close behind her. He followed her back out into the open before speaking.

"So what's the plan, Rambo? How do we get the hell out of here?"

"There is no way out. All we can do is fight." She turned and looked him up and down. "You need a weapon. That knife in your boot isn't going to cut it." She started marching towards the rising sun. "Let's go. It's gunna take us a while to find supplies."

"Supplies for what?"

She stopped and turn towards him yet again as she drew what he previously thought was a machete from it's place at her side. It was in fact a crudely made bladed weapon. The handle looked like it was fashioned out of some sort of bone. The blade was a black stone that had been chipped away at until it held a razor sharp edge. It was attached with some sort of strap.

"Here." She tossed him the weapon. "You can use mine until we can get you one. Keep your eyes open. They could show up at any time."

"They?"

"The monsters. Keep your eyes open."

They moved through the wood quickly. Alex's eyes kept scanning the ground for the stone she needed while Dean's eyes kept watching the trees. The unsettling silence was starting to get to him. Alex had always been one to shoot the breeze. The woman leading him through the trees was eerily silent. She hadn't said more than two words to him since they left that morning. All she did was move forward.

She suddenly stopped moving when she heard a rustling in the trees. She held up her hand in a gesture signaling to Dean to stop moving. She drew an arrow from her quiver and notched it carefully. They waited. The sound grew closer and closer. A low demonic growl sounded behind them.

Turning, Dean saw the creature racing towards him. He gripped his weapon tight and prepared to fight. There was a whistling sound near his ear and suddenly there was an arrow protruding from the creature's chest. He spun and found Alex still perfectly poised with her bow in hand. He was in complete awe of her. He didn't even know she knew how to use a bow until the day before. Now she was proving to be quite the marksman.

"Give me the blade," she said as she moved forward. Dean handed it to her in stunned silence. She didn't even look at him as she took it from him and descended upon the creature.

It looked at her in mild panic as she raised the weapon. It tried to beg her, but she just drew back her arm and gave one mighty swing, severing it's head from it's shoulders. He fell to his side, dead.

Dean was shocked by what he saw. His heart began to fill with trepidation as he watched Alex examine the body for a moment before she began to hack off one of the creature's legs.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Getting you a handle. Femurs work best. They're stronger. Wood will just break on you when you need it most. This," she gestured to the severed leg, "this will last a hell of a lot longer. Hand me your knife."

"I already gave it to you."

She tossed the blade aside. "Not that one. Your hunting knife. The one strapped to your ankle."

Dean reached down and slowly retrieved the weapon "How'd you know that was there? The rest of my stuff is gone."

"I went back this morning before you got up to see if I could find any clues about how you got here," she said. She reached into her own boot and retreaved Deans pistol. "I found it on the ground." She tossed it to him. "It won't be much use to you though."

Rage started to slowly boil up inside of him as he looked down at the much needed weapon she had kept from him. "Why are you just now giving me my gun?"

"Guns aren't worth shit down here, Dean. You can only use a bullet once."

"And what about those?" he asked as he gestured to the arrow.

"These?" She pulled the arrow from the monsters chest. "If I can't get it back, I can make more. You rely on that pistol here and you'll be dead before you know it. There's no way to make more bullets. Blades are better. Now give me the knife."

Dean handed it over to her and watched as she used it to butterfly the thigh muscles to get at the bone. Something had happened to her. Sure there was her time in Hell. That would change anybody, but this was something more than that. This was not the same Alex he had known. She had changed far more than he could even begin to comprehend.

* * *

Word soon spread throughout Purgatory that there was a human traveling with the Mayfair. The fact that it was a Winchester was something the monsters only learned when he and Alex were cutting them down to size.

Each day was much like the next. They ventured forth from their shelter and fought any monster that crossed their path until the sun started to set. Then they would take cover in one of the many refuges Alex had prepared and get ready for the next day. Before they knew it, years had passed. They learned each other's rhythms and movements while fighting to the point that they could seemingly communicate without words.

It was during one of their many hunts where they first heard Cas was there as well. Dean was shocked. Why would Cas abandon him to fight alone? It was a question that Dean wanted answered, and Alex was more than willing to help him with.

* * *

Dean's time in Hell was proving to be useful once again as he worked to get answers out of the vampire tied to the tree in front of him.

"Where's the angel?" he asked. There was no answer.

"I'm not sure he knows," Alex said in a disinterested tone as she twirled an arrow in her hand.

"Oh he knows." Dean slammed his hunting knife into the vamps thigh and twisted it.

The vampire screamed in agony. "There's a stream," he moaned.

"Go on."

"It runs through the clearing not far from here. I'll show you."

Alex sprang forward and pressed her blade to his throat with both of her hands. "How about you just tell us," she said.

It looked to Dean with pleading eyes. He just stared at it with cold indifference. "I'd answer the lady." It gulped and continued.

"Three days journey. Follow the stream. There's a clearing. You'll find the angel there."

The hunters shared a brief look and nodded. Alex looked back to the vampire. "Okay," Alex said with a slight smile. She dropped the blade and took a step back. "We believe you."

The vampire sighed in relief as the tension left his body just as Dean swung his own blade and severed the monster's head. The look of surprise was still on his face when it hit the dirt.

Dean and Alex shared a pair of satisfied smiles. "Let's go find ourselves an angel."

* * *

Alex stopped walking and began surveying the area around her. They were two days into their journey and she had finally reached a point where she no longer had prepared shelter. This was the edge of her domain. There was no way they would make it back to cover before total darkness fell, nor did she want to give up the progress they had made.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked as he watched her eyes shift to the treetops.

She notched and arrow in her bow and took aim at something only she could see in the treetops. "Finding shelter." She let the arrow fly. Dean stood amazed as a vine presented itself in front of her like a great green rope. He had seen her make incredible shots countless times over their years together, and she still managed to amaze him with her skill.

"When did you become the Green Arrow?"

Alex gave a small sarcastic chuckle. "I've had a lot of time to practice," she said before mounting the rope and beginning to climb. She was half way to the top before she realized Dean wasn't following her. Wrapping the vine around her left foot, she managed to create a rest so that she could turn and look back down at Dean. "What's the matter Dean? Afraid of a little rope climb?"

"No," she heard him mumble before he walked towards the rope and they both began to climb.

They reached several branches in the top of the tree that had vines woven all through them creating a net of sorts. Climbing onto the branches, they settled down in the web for the evening after pulling the vine rope up to them.

After a while, Dean began to think about what Alex had said about having time to practice. She would have had a considerable amount of time to acquire that much skill. Sam had reentered his life around two years before he arrived in Purgatory. He had never learned just how long he had been back before then. It was too difficult of a topic to discuss. He started to think about his own time in Purgatory. He knew it had been a few years, but he quit trying to do an exact count after the fourth painful year had passed with no sign of rescue.

If he had already been there four years, he could only imagine how long she had been there. He had woken to find Alex saving him. What had she seen upon her arrival? Who had helped her? She had been plucked form Hell and placed into the center of a war zone all alone.

"Alex," he began. "I'm sorry." She gave him a questioning look. "I'm sorry we didn't get you out."

"It's okay," she said with a shrug. "I've accepted my fate. I looked for you guys every day at first. Then after the first hundred years I just gave up." Dean's eyes widened in shock. Alex was too lost in her own thoughts to notice the change in her companion.

"The first hundred years?"

"Yeah. I figured you all were dead after that, so I just started praying that I would never see you here. I've meet a lot of lost souls down here, Dean. They were all vengeful spirits that got the salt and burn from hunters like us." She looked at him then. "That's what I thought had happened to you when you magically showed up. That's the only reason I could think of for you to be here after all this time."

"Alex, how long have you been here?" he asked. A weight settled in the pit of his stomach as he waited for the answer.

She thought about it for a moment before answering. "I'm not exactly sure," she said. "As best I can tell . . . two hundred years or so." She saw Dean become ashen. "What's wrong?"

"I, uh. . . Alex," he said softly. "I don't know how to say this…"

"Out with it, Dean. I'm a big girl. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

He looked her dead in the eye. "Alex, you were only gone for two years."

Her eyes grew wide for a moment before she looked away.  _Two year?_  She thought.  _It's only been two years. That means there's still hope. Sam could still find me._  A small smile formed on her face.

"What is it?" Dean asked upon seeing her give a slight chuckle.

For the first time since he arrived, Dean saw hope in Alex's eyes. "We're getting out of here, Dean," she said. "Tomorrow we'll find Cas. Then the three of us are getting the hell out of her."

"I thought you said there was no way out."

"Don't you get it, Dean? If I had only been gone for two years when you first showed up, that means it's only been a few months for Sam at the most. That means he is looking for us." Alex smiled her first real smile in over two centuries. "He's going to find us, Dean. We're gunna go home."

Dean did his best to return her smile as he watched her lean back into the vines with a sigh of contentment. He did not have the heart to tell her that they stopped looking for her when the Leviathan came. There was no point in opening that particular can of worms. Now that they were taken care of, Sam could focus on finding her again and when he did, he'd find him too. There was some comfort in that.  _Yeah, we're going home._  At lease he hoped they would make it there one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and comments.
> 
> This story exists because you, the readers, asked for it. I started this story years ago but abandoned it after lack of feedback and my work being stolen made me lose my desire to write it. You have been asking for more Sam and Alex, so here it is. I'll start with what I already had and will continue to write as long as I receive feedback. So if you want to see their story continue, you have to comment.


	4. Chapter 3

The sound of running water greeted their ears as they slowly made their way to the edge of a clearing. Dean and Alex took extra care to make as little noise as possible. It had already been an eventful morning. Six vampires, two chimeras, and a wendigo had already tried to crash the party and the sun was not at it's highest point yet. Seeing Cas kneeling by the stream, washing his hands was one of the most beautiful things they had ever seen. A beard now graced his usually clean-shaven face, but there was no denying that it was him. Dean was so full of joy seeing his angelic friend that he could not stop himself from yelling out his name.

The angel stood and turned in the direction he heard his name coming from. "Dean," he said as he saw the hunter immerge from the trees.

"Cas," he said as he enveloped the angel in a rib-crushing hug. "Damn, it's good to see you. Nice peach fuzz."

"Thank you."

His eyes were drawn back to the tree line by movement as Dean finally let him go. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the blood-drenched woman moving towards them. "Alexandra?"

"Hello to you too, Cas," she said with a chuckle. "Long time no see."

He looked back and forth between the two in bewilderment. "How did you get here?" He asked Alex.

"Long story. Maybe I'll tell you later."

"How did you find me?"

"The bloody way," Dean said.

Alex watched the two talk with a small smile on her face. She'd never admit it out loud, but she had been rather lonely over the centuries. After spending so much time waking next to Sam and seeing Dean every day, finding herself alone and literally fighting for her life every day was not easy. Seeing Dean with his pet angel warmed her stone cold heart.

"So where have you been?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Alex chimed in. "From what Dean told me the two of you would have arrived together, but when I found Dean he was on his own. What happened?"

"Look, we were surrounded, okay?" Dean offered. "Some freak jumped Cas. Obviously, he kicked its ass, right?"

"No."

"What?"

"I ran away."

Both Dean and Alex's eyebrows shot towards their hairlines at his statement.

"You ran away?" Dean asked.

"I had to."

The excuse sounded pathetic to his own ears, but Castiel knew no other way to express the reasoning for his actions. Every hellacious creature that roamed this prison would be drawn to him like a moth to the flame. If he had stayed with Dean, there would have been no way for him to keep his friend safe.

Dean, of course, didn't see it that way. All he saw was betrayal.

"I prayed to you, Cas, every night."

He had a hard time meeting Dean's eyes as he spoke. "I know."

"You know and you didn't…" Rage began to boil in Dean's blood. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"I am an angel in a land of abominations. There have been things hunting me from the moment we arrived."

"Join the club!" Dean yelled. "If Alex hadn't shown up when she did, I would have been dead. So don't try to feed me some bullshit line about it being for my own good because things would have gone a hell of a lot better if the three of us had been in this from the start!"

Alex came up and placed a hand on Dean's shoulder in an attempt to calm him before his screaming attracted more attackers. He just shrugged her off and took a step closer to the angel. He tried to explain the bounty the Leviathan had for him, but it didn't seem to do much good.

"Just leave me, please," Cas said as he took a step back and made to leave them.

Panic filled Alex as she saw her one change at freedom slipping away. "Cas, wait!" she lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "You have got to help us get out of here. You're our only hope Castiel."

There was genuine sadness in his eyes when he looked at her. There was a mixture of hope and desperation on her face, and it broke his heart to tell her that he could not help them. "Alex, I'm sorry."

"Then what are we supposed to do huh?" Dean asked. "Just spend the rest of eternity fighting every low life son of a bitch that we already put down once?"

Alex gave Dean a look that said he clearly was not helping before turning back to the angel. "I heard a rumor once that there was a door, an escape hatch. I looked all over for it, but I couldn't find it."

Dean was a bit surprised by this. She had never mentioned this failed escape attempt. She had only mentioned waiting for them to rescue her. The desperation in her voice had not gone amiss. Dean could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen emotion from Alex since he arrived her, this was one of them.

The angel noticed the near tears in her eyes as her last hope of freedom began slipping through her fingers. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he didn't know if it would help her. His eyes began shifting, looking anywhere but her face. Her eyes grew wide when she realize he was hiding something from her.

"So it's true," Alex said, hope returning to her voice. "There really is a way out?"

Castiel nodded. "For a living human, yes."

Something about the way Cas said that did not sit well with Dean. There was something the angel was holding back. "What are you saying, Cas?"

"The angel looked between the two hunters for a moment before sighing. He had hoped it would never come to this, but the look on his friends' faces told him he could not delay any longer.

"You will be able to pass through, Dean. Alex and I may not be so lucky."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked. She had been dreaming about going back every night since she realized that Sam was most likely still alive somewhere. Now, to hear that her dreams might not become a reality, it was destroying the last piece of her soul that was left.

"Cas looked at her with a pair of puppy dog eyes that would rival Sam's. "The portal is designed for a living human soul to pass through. You and I," he inclined his head towards Alex, "are not exactly human."

Alex stumbled back a couple of steps and bumped into Dean's solid chest.

"What do you mean, Cas?" Dean asked.

"I am an angel. While I may be in a human vessel, the escape hatch is not angel-friendly."

Alex gulped. "What about me?"

"You are the Queen of Hell imbued with an angel's grace. I'm not sure that qualifies you as human any longer."

If he was being perfectly honest, he would have told them that he knew for a fact it didn't. Every human soul in Purgatory had been inside his body. He could name them all. Each was a lost soul biding its time in an attempt to atone for less than damming offenses. If Alex was in fact human, she would have been released to her final judgment with the others. Her soul had not been in Castiel's body. Only the human souls were. The Leviathan had been looking for him and had been clever to disguise themselves. Alex, he could not explain.

Dean could feel Alex begin to shake slightly under his hands and it scared him. She had been as solid as a rock up to this point. Seeing her in such a state brought back memories of her catatonia after seeing his brother die. She had barely moved and hardly eaten. According to Bobby she didn't say a word for weeks until she said Sam's name when he showed up alive at her door. The thought of seeing her like that again scare him more than Dick Roman ever had.

"We'll figure it out alright?" Dean said. "Cas, buddy, we need you."

"Dean…" he thought about fighting the hunter for a moment until he saw how he was holding the woman standing in front of him. It was as if his hands on her shoulders were the only things keeping her from shattering into a thousand pieces. He knew it was pointless to fight. "All right," he said, "but you are not going to like where we are going."

* * *

More Leviathans kept pouring into the clearing. They were like the mythological hydra. For each one they cut down, two more seemed to appear in it's place. Dean and Alex kept trying to settle into the synchronous rhythm with which they usually fought, but they had to keep saving the angel's ass.

Castiel was next to worthless in the fight. Hand to hand combat was nothing new to him, but without his blade all he could do was touch them. Getting that close got risky fast. He managed to lay hands on the monster in front of him. So focused was he on that one creature that he didn't notice the second one coming up behind him.

"Cas!" Dean shouted.

It was just enough warning for him to move out of the way before the creature's teeth chomped down on his skull. He turned, locking eyes on the creature as he prepared to devour him once again. It never got the chance. Alex separated its head from its shoulders from behind while Dean finished thinning out the rest of the herd.

Once they were satisfied that they were once again safe for the moment, Cas thanked Alex for saving his life.

"Don't mention it," she said.

"We must be getting close," said Cas as he started leading them through the woods again.

"Really?" Dean asked. "I don't see crap. I mean, what the hell is this escape hatch supposed to look like?"

"I don't know."

"Wait, what?" Alex grabbed Castiel's arm and force him to look at her.

Dean quickly joined in. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm not sure."

"We have been neck deep in Leviathan for weeks," Alex said. "I know you said it was going to get worse before it got better, but we can't keep going like this. We are smack dab in the middle of their territory. If we go much farther we won't survive. I have waited way too long and fought to damn hard to lose now!"

The volume with which she spoke had risen with every word she spoke. If she kept it up, the Leviathan would be on them again even sooner. A fact that she knew well, but at that moment she really didn't care. Dean could see her strength failing, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders to keep her steady. She was reaching towards hysterics and frankly, it scared him. She had taught him everything he knew about this place. Without knowing it, she had become the fearless leader that he needed. Watching her fall apart now would not do him any good.

Alex had never meant to lead anyone. Her only thought when she first saw Dean was making sure that his soul had enough time to work off whatever it was that landed him there so that he wouldn't have to serve a second stint in Hell. Then when she found out that he was alive, she felt the first bit of peace she had in decades because she knew Sam was still alive. When Cas said there was a way out, she had felt hope. After what equated to nearly three centuries of nothing but war, the only thing keeping her going was slipping through her fingers. She wasn't sure she could take it if the life that had been dangled in front of her was ripped from her grasp yet again.

"Hey," Dean said, "we're all getting out of here okay. The three of us are going home."

"Dean," said Castiel, "it's a human portal. There's still no proof that an angel can pass -"

Alex had regained her composure somewhat. "Stop it, Cas. We all get out, or none of us do."

"I'm just saying…"

Dean was the one to cut him off this time. "Save the Hallmark. Okay? It's gunna work. Nobody gets left behind."

They moved into another clearing, ready to defend themselves from another attack. Instead, they were greeted by a strong wind. It carried the leaves and several blades of grass with it. Alex followed the path one of the leaves took, and her eyes were greeted with a very welcome sight.

"There it is," Castiel said. High above them on a cliff was a ball of energy. It crackled with blue lightning in its black depths. He looked towards Dean. "It's reacting to you."

Alex wasted no time in running up the steep cliff space. "Let's go!" She yelled as she continued to move as fast as her tired legs would carry her. The screaming of her muscles and the tiredness in her bones no longer mattered her only thoughts were of home, of Sam.

Dean did not have to be told twice. He followed closely behind his friend, matching her step for step. It was not until he heard Castiel call his name Turning, he could see the angel sliding down the cliff on his stomach.

"We've got incoming," Alex said as Leviathan begin streaming in from the sky. Dean looks back and forth between his two companions for a moment, trying to decide which way to go. Alex answered that question for him. "Get Cas. I'll hold 'em off."

Dean rushed forward and helped the angel to his feet. A quick check to make sure he was alright and Dean turned back to the fight. Alex was holding her own against a trio of trash compactors. She slashed one across the stomach. The Leviathan doubled over in pain directly in front of Dean who was more than happy to help his friend by decapitating the monster.

They fell into their fighting rhythm while Cas tried to get close enough to lay hands on one of the Leviathan to purge it of evil. The rest were quickly dispatched. Dean looked up and saw that the portal was slowly shrinking.

"We got to move!" he yelled. "The portal's closing!"

They raced for the portal, but Cas once again fell behind. Alex reached for him. "Cas, come on! We've got to go!"

Dean was the first to reach the portal and quickly stepped inside. "Come on!"

Alex reached for his hand. He pulled her to stand next to him. Pain shot throughout her entire body as the lightning began to attack her. She screamed out in agony before quickly losing consciousness. Dean was able to catch her before she fell. After securing her lifeless form with one arm, he extended an arm to Cas. The angel quickly grabbed a hold.

The energy swirled around them and pulled hard on Dean as it began to close around him. He could feel Cas' grip slipping. "I got you! Hold on!"

"Dean!"

"Hold on!" If he could just keep a hold of Cas for a few more seconds, he was sure they would all make it through.

"Dean!" Cas forcibly broke Dean's grip. "Go!"

Dean looked at his friend in shock and sorrow as the portal closed.

* * *

A gasp sounded from Alex's lips as air rushed into her lungs and her eyes flew open. She looked up to see Dean leaning over her. His shoulders slumped in relief as their eyes met and he pulled his hands away from her chest.

When the portal had closed, her heart had stopped. Dean had been terrified that he had lost both her and Cas in their attempt to escape. Cas had been the one to let go, but in Dean's mind he had lost his hold on his friend and left him behind to keep fighting alone when the darkness closed in. His eyes had refocused to find a lifeless Alex in his arms.

It took him a moment to realize she wasn't breathing. Dean's own heart nearly stopped when he found that she had no pulse. The only thing he had known to do was CPR. He was on his third round when she had suddenly taken a deep inhale of breath and opened her eyes. He let out a long breath of his own.

"Thank God. I thought I'd lost you there."

"I'm okay," she said weakly as she sat up. "Did it work? Are we out?"

Dean took an appraising look around them and found them to still be deep in the woods. It was night. He could see stars shining brightly above their heads tough the branches of the trees.  _Were there stars in Purgatory?_  he asked himself.

"I'm not sure."

Alex suddenly realized there was one less in their company. "Where's Cas?"

Dean bristled slightly. "He didn't make it."

Alex nodded her understanding. She knew that getting the three of them through was a long shot. Hell, it had nearly killed her if the ache in her ribs was anything to go on. She still had her bow and blade. Dean had his weapons as well.

"No sense is just sitting around," Alex said as she moved to stand and notched one of her few remaining arrows. "Time to find out if we really are home."

Dean drew his gun. He had kept it with him the whole time in hopes that they would make it back. "I'll take point." Alex started to protest, but the look on Dean's face killed the words on her tongue. She just nodded and followed. If she was being honest with herself, Dean taking the lead was the right move. She had just almost died after all and was probably not in the best shape to be on the front lines. Too bad they weren't sure if they were out of the war zone yet.

They traveled a few hundred yards before they saw a light in the distance. As they drew closer, they could hear voices. There was a small tent with a light in the clearing.

"Don't remember seeing any of those in Purgatory," Alex whispered.

"Yeah," replied Dean. "Looks like they've got some supplies we need. There's no telling how far out we are, and it could be a while before we find the road."

Alex nodded. "I'll take care of the light," she said. "You grab the stuff."

They moved forward as quietly as they could. A few twigs snapped here and there alerting those in the tent to their presence before they could make a clean getaway.

"Hello?" a young man called as he emerged from the tent. "Hello?" Dean and Alex froze behind him, weapons at the ready, as he pointed the flashlight into the darkness before him. "It was a deer." He made to turn back towards the tent. Alex moved to loosen her bowstring when her shifting weight caused another twig to snap. The young man spun on his heels and brought the flashlight up to reveal the two blood-soaked and heavily armed hunters. "Oh!"

"Where are we?" Dean asked in a menacing tone.

"What?"

A young woman started to make her way out of the tent. The movement sent Alex into high alert. She raised her bow and pulled the string taut, ready to lose her arrow as Dean aimed his long since fired gun.

"Where's the road?" Dean repeated.

"Twelve miles, that way," he said with a point.

They kept their weapons trained on the couple as Dean grabbed the backpack from the ground. The second it was secure on his shoulder, the two hunters took off in the direction the young man had pointed.

* * *

Finding a phone was the first thing Alex wanted to do. She needed to talk to Sam. Dean had convinced her that getting cleaned up was probably a better idea. Nobody was going to let them use a phone looking like a pair of serial killers.

They found a stream to wash most of the blood off their faces before they found the road. There had been an extra shirt in the backpack they took. It didn't really fit Dean, but it was enough for him to be able to walk into the bar with the cash from the camper's wallet and hustle enough from the pool tables to get them some clothes and a room for the night.

The second Alex was through the door she went straight for the phone and started dialing Sam's number. The first number she called was out of service. She pulled the phone away from her ear and gave it an incredulous look.

Dean noticed. "What?"

"It's out of service," she said before turning to him.

"Well try another one."

The next three were much the same. She eventually just left him a message.

"Sam," her voice was tentative, "it… it's Alex. I really want to see you. Please call me back." She left the number of the motel phone and hung up.

Dean had watched her from across the room the entire time. Each number she called took a little more out of her. She shoulders slumped a little more. Her hand started to shake a bit as she dialed. He heard the hesitation in her voice and decided to step in. He took the receiver from her hand and nodded towards the bathroom.

"Go," he said. "Get cleaned up. I'll find Sammy."

She nodded her head silently as her steely mask fell back into place. She grabbed her new clothes and walked silently to the bathroom. Dean noticed that she took her blade with her. All that time in Purgatory had made her super paranoid. There was a time that she only would have taken a weapon with her when she was alone. Centuries of always being on guard made it so she couldn't really relax.

There was so much blood and gore on her clothes that she had to cut her pants off of her body. Some of the torn denim had actually become part of a wound on her thigh long since forgotten. She hissed a little as she ripped it off, taking small amounts of flesh with it.

She turned on the shower and slowly began washing the reminisce of her time alone from her body. The water felt like a small piece of Heaven as it cascaded down her heavily scared body. She dried herself off with the scratchy motel towel and put on her new clothes.

Grabbing her soiled clothing, she walked out into the main room to hear Dean leaving another message for Sam.

"No luck," she asked.

"Not yet," Dean replied. "We had to ditch a few numbers when the Leviathan were chasing us. We'll find him."

She nodded to him, a blank look on her face, as he stood and began to gather his things to take a shower of his own. Alex took a set on her bed and examined the bloody rags she had called clothes in her hands. It was impossible to tell which dark stains were her blood and which ones belonged to the monsters she had slain. They spoke of innumerable battles she had fought and the strength it took to face another day. As she examined them, the reality of it finally sank in.

Dean was just about to close the bathroom door when he heard Alex make a small strangled noise. He pushed open the door and saw her shoulders shaking as if she was sobbing.

"Alex?" He heard the sound again. He stepped out of the bathroom and moved towards her. "Alex, you okay?"

She tossed her head back and started laughing hysterically. Dean became even more worried. It would be perfectly understandable for the woman to shed a few tears after all they had been through, hell he came close himself. Instead, she was doing one of the best impersonations of the Joker he had ever seen.

"What's so funny?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. It's just…" She took a moment to compose herself before looking at the man who had fought by her side for so long. "It's over. It's really over. We made it out, Dean."

Smiles broke across both of their faces. "Yeah. We did." Alex rose to her feet and threw her arms around Dean's shoulders in a tight bear hug. It didn't matter that she had just gotten clean and he was still covered in filth. She was just glad they were finally free.

* * *

They left messages at every number Sam had ever used. Each time Sam didn't answer, the doubt in Alex's mind grew a bit more.  _Maybe the reason he's not answering is because he's dead,_  she thought. It was the only reason she could come up with to explain why none of the numbers worked.

Bobby's cabin was only a day away by foot, and they still hadn't heard anything from the younger Winchester. It was on their last motel stop that Dean finally managed to reach his brother.

"Sam?" Dean said into the phone. "Yeah." Alex immediately perked up and moved closer, trying to hear both sides of the conversation. "Meet us at Bobby's cabin. We'll be waiting for you." Dean ended the call.

"Was that him?"

"Yeah," Dean gave Alex a little half smile. "You'll see him soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story only exists because you, the readers, have asked for it. Lack of feedback may result in the death of this story.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments. Lack of these will result in the discontinuation of this series.


End file.
